


One Year

by aliciameade



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 14:38:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6961027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliciameade/pseuds/aliciameade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Beca walks down the aisle, ten months, two weeks, four days, and three hours will have passed since she kissed Chloe in the bathroom of a Hollywood bar when Chloe flew out to keep Beca company while Jesse was in London to talk to a composer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Year

* * *

 

_One year._

 

_Well, more like eleven months._

 

_Who am I kidding? Ten months, two weeks, four days, and three hours._

 

Chloe sat at the table in her breakfast nook, spinning a thick rectangle of cardstock on its sharp corner, her index finger as an axis.

 

When Beca walks down the aisle, ten months, two weeks, four days, and three hours will have passed since she kissed Chloe in the bathroom of a Hollywood bar when Chloe flew out to keep Beca company while Jesse was in London to talk to a composer. It would be ten months, two weeks, two days and some hours since Beca had made love to Chloe in the bed Beca shares with her fiancé. She never could pinpoint that experience to exact hours. She was lucky she could get it down to a specific day with the way the heat fogged her memory of clocks and calendars.

 

A shiver ran through her as her mind replayed the night in fast motion. It had been a blur at the time, but every detail was vivid in her memory – the almost accidental kiss when they danced too closely in the club; Beca’s arm around her waist as the cab sped them toward Jesse’s and her condo; the quiet voice that Beca used when she urged Chloe to lie back, the ease with which Beca removed Chloe’s clothes and the surprising calmness with which Chloe removed Beca’s, the tenderness of Beca’s touch and the gasp of surprise when Chloe slipped her hand between Beca’s thighs to caress one another.

 

Her hand twitched and the momentum died, the wedding invitation falling lifeless to the table. She couldn’t believe Beca had mustered the nerve to send one to her, after everything. She wondered what she had gone through to make it happen - if Jesse or one of the Bellas had insisted, or if she had simply forgotten to take Chloe’s name off the list before it went to the printer.

 

They had barely spoken to one another in months. Beca was busy with the wedding, with Jesse, with her career. Chloe was admittedly busy with her own life, but at least Chloe made periodic efforts to reach out.

 

To Chloe, Beca seemed unaffected by what had transpired between them. Chloe couldn’t stop wondering if Beca ever thought about it. She wondered if Beca relived it when she was in bed and alone as Chloe had.

 

Beca had brushed aside Chloe’s attempts to talk about it before she left Los Angeles. When Chloe would start with “Beca, about what happened…” Beca would flinch and shake her head, turning her face away so Chloe couldn’t see her eyes. “I don’t want to think about it,” Beca would reply.

 

The disregard made Chloe feel like she was a regret in Beca’s life. A night that had been so magical to her was an unsightly scar to Beca. She knew much of Beca’s reaction was borne of guilt. Chloe felt bad that she had allowed Beca to be unfaithful, but never had she regretted it, not for a second.

 

Chloe stared at the date scrawled near the bottom of the invitation. She didn’t need to be reminded when the wedding was scheduled. She had kept that weekend clear on her calendar in case something between them changed, in case Beca would want her there.

 

“I don’t want you there,” Beca had said when Chloe asked about her color scheme so she wouldn’t show up in the same color as the bridesmaids; it was hard enough swallowing the pill that was her not being invited into the wedding party.

 

“But it’s your wedding,” Chloe had argued, weakly. “That one,” she offered, pointing at a calligraphy design in a sample book Beca had been staring at for the better part of an hour, trying to find the level of friendship they had before one night changed everything.

 

“Exactly.” Beca closed the book, shaking her head as she looked away. “I can’t have you there.”

 

“Why?” Chloe had asked, reaching for Beca’s arm to stop her from fleeing the room. “Please, just tell me why.”

 

“I just can’t,” Beca had answered, staring at the hand wrapped around her forearm, tears beginning to pool along her eyelashes.

 

Chloe remembered that moment as the first time Beca had shown any emotion about the night, save for apathy, since it had happened.

 

Chloe missed Beca. She needed to see Beca, to talk to her, to ask her not to hate her for what had happened and tell her not to blame herself for giving in to something they both felt was right.

 

“Shit,” Chloe said to herself as she looked up from the calligraphy she had chosen that day for Beca, to stare at her packed suitcases that had been sitting by her front door all day. She had booked her flight the night before, after unwinding with one too many glasses of wine. In the morning she wished she hadn’t, but she felt there was a reason to it, to why she was able to get a window seat in first class on a last-minute flight to Mexico the first try. She had spent most of the morning in her nook, staring at the invitation and trying to figure out just what she would say to Beca.

 

The cab honked and her stomach turned as her legs carried her to the door, forcing herself to keep moving for fear that if f she stopped, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself.

 

“Airport?” her driver said politely as he lifted her bags into the drunk of the town car and closed the door for her. “Where are we jetting off to?”

 

“Cancún.” Chloe’s voice sounded foreign to her.

 

“What’s waiting for you there?”

 

“Just going for a wedding.”

 

“I hope you have a nice time.”

 

“Me, too.”

 

* * *

 

Chloe checked in to her hotel not knowing whether or not it was Beca’s hotel. She hadn’t responded to the invitation, so she had never been sent information about where to stay, but she knew where the wedding would be and chose a hotel nearby. She hoped it wasn’t the same one. She didn’t know if she was ready to bump into Beca in the hallway. To Chloe’s relief, the desk clerk was able to confirm that there was no wedding party staying at their hotel that weekend.

 

The bed called her name when she entered the room. It had been a long flight and an early morning and she needed sleep. Beca was probably in the middle of her rehearsal dinner anyway, wherever that may be. She gave in to the exhaustion, setting the alarm clock for an ungodly hour.

 

* * *

 

It was still dark when the alarm pulled Chloe out of her fitful sleep. She went through the mindless motions of showering, hair, make up, and wardrobe – gray capris and a lavender button-down sleeveless shirt - constantly working to remind herself that what she was doing was not insane.

 

She got directions from the front desk to the location indicated on the invitation and chose to walk there. She needed the time to think, to clear her brain of everything but why she was there.

 

Why was she there? Chloe stopped in her tracks as she rounded a curve in the road to see a black van in the distance, parked next to a small beach house unloading white folding chairs, a team of three men hauling them onto the sand.

 

The sun was up now, and Chloe started walking as she tried to come up with something, anything to say to Beca if (when) she found her. ‘I don’t regret it,’ were the only words she could see.

 

The truck pulled away and Chloe stepped off the main roadway, finding a dry patch of grass to sit on. She watched the activity on the beach. As soon as one vehicle would leave, another would arrive to deliver something else, assembling a seaside wedding.

 

Another vehicle arrived, this one an SUV, and Stacie and Amy hopped out of it. Chloe watched as they worked together to pull what she knew was Beca’s gown from the back, along with a few duffle bags, to carry it all into the nearby beach house.

 

Chloe swallowed. It was real now; she was in Cancún waiting for Beca, to confront her, to ask her why she had pushed Chloe out of her life. She stood up and started walking again, following the road as it wound down the hillside in a single lazy curve.

 

She had been part of enough weddings to know that the bride was never far behind the dress, and her experience was proven accurate when a second car pulled alongside the first. Emily exited the driver’s side and Chloe felt a hint of relief. Emily was the only person she wasn’t afraid of seeing. Emily was the only person that knew.

 

Beca stepped out a moment later, a bag slung over her shoulder and her neat ponytail turning messy as the morning breeze tousled it. She was wearing the khaki pants Chloe always said she loved on her so much; they were different from the skinny, distressed jeans she seemed to live in. She’d paired them with a simple white tank.

 

She waited until Beca and Emily were both inside before crossing the sand to the rickety wooden stairs that led into the beach house. She stopped at the bottom, considering bounding up them and bursting inside, but instead she turned and sat on the second to last step, burying her toes in the sand as she waited. For what, she wasn’t sure, but she knew she would know when it was right.

 

“Chloe?”

 

Chloe lifted her chin from her knees, staring out across the ocean.

 

“We were just talking about you.”

 

Chloe glanced over her shoulder to see Emily at the top of the stairs, holding the banister. “Hi.”

 

“What are you doing here?” Emily asked as she descended the stairs.

 

“I…I don’t know.” Chloe scooted to the left when Emily started to sit down next to her. “I wanted to talk to her. She won’t talk to me.”

 

“She’s been distracted…busy,” Emily said.

 

“We’re all busy.” Chloe shook her head, letting go of the anger that kept threatening to invade her purpose. “I just needed to see her. I don’t know why I’m here. She didn’t want me here.”

 

“Yes, she did.”

 

“That’s not what she told me.”

 

“She changed her mind.” Emily dug her toes into the sand as well.

 

Chloe tilted her head. “How do you know?”

 

“If I had a dollar for every time she texted me to take your name off the invitation list, only to put it back on…”

 

“She couldn’t decide?”

 

“But the final decision was to send it.”

 

Chloe stood up, brushing the sand off her pants. “I shouldn’t be here.”

 

“She was asking about you, if you had RSVP’d.”

 

“She did?”

 

“You should go talk to her.”

 

“I can’t.”

 

“Then why are you here?”

 

Chloe shrugged.

 

“She cares about you. Just go.”

 

Chloe sighed and willed herself up the long flight of stairs. When she looked back, Emily was in the car, pulling out of the driveway.

 

She watched Beca through the window on the door, fiddling and fumbling with everything in the room, obviously full of nerves. Chloe turned the knob, opening and entering without knocking. Beca was bent over, digging through the pockets of a duffel bag.

 

“I can’t find my earrings; did you put them in my bag or yours?”

 

“Bec.”

 

Beca’s searching hands slowed.

 

Chloe cleared her throat and tried again. “Beca?”

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

Chloe tried not to be offended by the words, to see things from Beca’s point of view – Chloe had shown up, unannounced, in her bridal suite on the day of her wedding. Of course she would be surprised, and probably angry.

 

“I…I got your invitation.”

 

Beca stood up and turned to face Chloe, crossing her arms. “You didn’t RSVP.”

 

“I thought it was a mistake that I got one. You said you didn’t want me here.”

 

“Then why are you here?”

 

“You won’t talk to me.” Chloe took a step forward, feeling brave. “You don’t talk to me anymore. You tell me you don’t want me to come to your wedding when I thought we were best friends. We shared something that night. Something special, and you act like it never happened! Like I don’t even exist anymore!”

 

Beca’s eyes were down, staring at the floor, and Chloe felt her worst fears being confirmed.

 

“I was a mistake,” Chloe said quietly. Beca looked up quickly, her expression pained. “I shouldn’t have come here.” She turned to leave but saw Beca drop her arms and take a step forward. Chloe waited, half-turning to look back at Beca.

 

Beca’s face had softened. “I didn’t think you’d want to.”

 

“I’m not staying for the ceremony. I…I just wanted to see you first.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Can we sit?” Chloe asked, moving toward the couch to the left of a vanity that was already stocked with make up and hairstyling tools.

 

“I’m marrying Jesse,” Beca said firmly as she sat. “I love Jesse.”

 

“I wasn’t asking you not to.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“You wouldn’t talk about what happened, and I never understood why. I still don’t.”

 

“I didn’t want to.”

 

“So ignoring me was the solution? How do you think that made me feel? Do you have any idea what I’ve been going through because of this?”

 

“I wasn’t ignoring you, I was just…”

 

“Just…?”

 

“Scared. I guess.”

 

“Scared of what?”

 

“Of what you were going to say.” Beca shrugged. “I don’t know.”

 

“What did you think I would say?”

 

Beca reached for Chloe tentatively, linking their hands together. It was a reconnection months in the making and the simple act made Chloe want to cry. “I guess…I guess I was scared we wouldn’t feel the same way. I didn’t want to know.”

 

“What did you feel?”

 

Beca shook her head. “I need you to tell me first. If you…I can’t…I need you to tell me first.”

 

Chloe took a breath. Beca had finally given her the window to say what she had been waiting to say for too long. She squeezed Beca’s hand. “I don’t regret it.”

 

Beca seemed to laugh, gasp, and sob all at once. “What?”

 

Chloe turned their entwined hands over, laying her other hand over top of Beca’s. “I don’t regret you.”

 

“You don’t?” Beca’s eyes were brimming with tears and Chloe held fast to Beca’s hands to stop from reaching out to brush them away as they fell.

 

“Never for a minute.” Chloe felt the sting of her own emotions brewing and she smiled to try to comfort them both.

 

“Wow,” Beca breathed. She slouched, though it seemed as though the world had been lifted from her shoulders. “If I would have known that…”

 

“But you never let me say it.”

 

“We should have talked about this a long time ago.” Beca dried her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Yeah, we should have.”

 

“I thought I would lose you. I couldn’t bear it if –”

 

“Beca, stop. You didn’t lose me. See?” Chloe patted Beca’s knee. “I’m right here.”

 

Beca nodded, wiping her tears away faster, growing frustrated with her emotions.

 

Chloe reached up, touching Beca’s face gently, waiting for Beca to look at her again.

 

The speed with which Beca met her eyes warmed Chloe’s heart and she released Beca’s hand to embrace her. She had missed their hugs. They fit so well. Chloe turned her head, resting her cheek on Beca’s shoulder.

 

“I’ve missed this,” Beca said quietly. “I’ve missed you.”

 

Chloe smiled, Beca having echoed her thoughts. “I’ve missed you, too.”

 

When she felt Beca’s cool hand slip under the back of her shirt, Chloe opened her eyes, but didn’t lift her head. She stared at Beca’s neck, watching the tiny flutter of Beca’s pulse just beneath the surface.

 

“Beca –”

 

“I’m getting married tonight,” Beca said, as though she was speaking to herself. Her hand moved a higher, Chloe’s shirt starting to bunch against her wrist.

 

Chloe moved her hand to Beca’s arm, intending to stop her but she felt as though she was encouraging her.

 

“You made me feel amazing that night. I’ve never felt like that in my life. It was so…pure, simple…no, not simple…”

 

Chloe waited, letting Beca find her words.

 

“Freeing.”

 

Chloe nodded her head against Beca’s shoulder, resisting the desire to press her lips to Beca’s neck. “Yes, it was.”

 

“I’m in love with Jesse.”

 

“I know,” Chloe whispered, worried and yet eager to see where Beca’s stream of consciousness was taking them.

 

“But holding you…” Beca’s hands moved across Chloe’s back, slowly but deliberately, as though she was trying to cover every inch of her skin.

 

Chloe shivered. “Holding me?”

 

“Puts me at ease,” Beca said with a sigh.

 

Chloe adjusted her head on Beca’s shoulder, her left hand moving to rest along her neck, her thumb gently stroking down her throat. “Me, too.”

 

“Chloe, I –”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Whatever it is. Yes.”

 

“But you don’t know what I –”

 

Chloe leaned in and pressed her lips to the fluttering rhythm on Beca’s neck.

 

“Oh, yeah, you do…”

 

Beca’s voice drifted away as Chloe pressed another kiss to her neck, and another, and another until she had come face to face with Beca. Chloe didn’t pause, Beca didn’t hesitate, and their lips met in a mutual kiss. It was soft and comforting, and then Beca pulled Chloe closer and the kiss deepened, turning sensual and hot and Chloe was thankful Beca’s hands were lifting the back of her shirt, cooling her, if only a little.

 

Chloe sat back, still holding the back of Beca’s neck, when Beca’s hands traveled to her waist, unbuttoning Chloe’s shirt one by one from the bottom up until it hung loosely on her shoulders. She had watched Beca focus intently on each button, her fingers sure and steady, just like the first time.

 

She reached for the hem of Beca’s tank, but Beca was already lifting it over her head. When it was gone, she was pulled close again, their kisses starting to feel urgent. Chloe tugged at the sides of her shirt, freeing them from being trapped between their bodies. She had forgotten this, the feel if Beca’s skin against her own. It wasn’t that she had forgotten, she reminded herself, but that no memory could ever be as vivid as reality. She pressed herself closer, hands resting on Beca’s hips as she debated whether to climb into her lap or pull Beca down on top of her.

 

Chloe brought her hands together low on Beca’s stomach, working the button, drawing the zipper down. She felt Beca’s breathing quicken and worked her hands below the waistband at Beca’s hips, pushing down until Beca lifted herself to let Chloe slip them off completely.

 

Beca did the same for Chloe and Chloe immediately moved into her lap, standing on her knees so she could look down at Beca. Chloe smiled and reached behind Beca, pulling the elastic band from Beca’s hair to let it flow wildly over her shoulders, the way Chloe always liked it.

 

Chloe dipped her head, whispering, “I won’t regret this, either,” before bringing their mouths back together.

 

She felt Beca’s hands roaming, moving over her shoulders, down her back where they paused to unhook her bra. Chloe pulled it off her arms and let it fall somewhere over the back of the couch as she quickly rid Beca of her own. Beca’s hands were moving again, one resting on Chloe’s thigh as the other slipped into the back of her panties, moving over the curve of her backside, and Chloe mentally kicked herself for not taking them off before she had straddled Beca’s lap.

 

A moan escaped her lips when Beca’s hand slid around her hip to her abdomen, tracing along the rim of her panties to slip into them from a better angle.

 

“Sorry,” Chloe said, apologizing for breaking the purity of silence surrounding them. It was so quiet that it felt indecent to be so careless as to moan in pleasure.

 

She bit her lip, and then Beca’s, when Beca changed her hand’s position again, opting to pull her panties aside to caress her.

 

The tenderness with which Beca touched her made Chloe weak and it distracted her. She apologized with a deeper kiss as she dragged her fingers down from Beca’s shoulders, across her breasts, her right hand lingering as her left trailed down Beca’s stomach, slipping into Beca’s panties, covering her heated flesh with her palm before touching her with more precision, feeling how much Beca wanted her there, knowing Beca could feel the same.

 

“I love you,” Chloe whispered, touching her tongue to Beca’s before kissing her firmly, her fingers finding an easy home within the heat she had kindled in Beca, and then had to break the kiss when Beca slipped into her.

 

Chloe eased herself down until she was sitting against the tops of Beca’s thighs. She moved slowly. She framed Beca’s face with her hand and Beca met her gaze. There was sadness in her eyes, and lust, and an understanding that Chloe knew mirrored what Beca could see in her own. She kissed Beca gently, eyes open, not quite ready to let go of the connection.

 

Gradually the physical took over and eyes fell closed as they found their rhythm. They traded long, deep kisses with shorter ones that allowed them to breathe as their pace quickened.

 

Beca started to move beneath her, hips shifting and lifting with each stroke of her hand. Chloe matched Beca’s tempo, knowing she was close, wanting to be right with her as she hovered on the verge. Beca’s free arm wrapped around Chloe’s waist to pull her closer and Chloe touched her fingers to Beca’s lips until she lifted her head. The look in Beca’s eyes broke her heart.

 

“I love you, too,” Beca breathed, and the room was silent, Beca’s body frozen beneath her as Chloe felt her release. Her own followed quickly, quietly, and she felt herself pulled impossibly close as a shudder passed between them. Chloe dropped her head to Beca’s shoulder, unable to stand the pain of reality that came with their eye contact.

 

The silence was broken, interrupted by deep, recovering breaths as Chloe let herself be held, feeling Beca’s chin rest on her shoulder. Her hand was caressing Chloe’s back again, gliding over the glow that clung to her skin.

 

Chloe eased herself back, knowing it was time. They redressed quietly, stopping to kiss when it felt necessary, and then they were dressed and sitting, Beca pulling her hair back into its ponytail as they faced one another once again.

 

“You weren’t a mistake,” Beca finally said.

 

Chloe smiled and let her head tilt to the left, resting it against the cushions as she gazed at Beca. Her face was still flushed, but it was fading. “I’m glad.”

 

“I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”

 

“I know.”

 

Beca glanced out the window. She seemed disappointed. Chloe looked as well and saw why. Emily’s vehicle was parked in the driveway.

 

“I guess I should go,” Chloe said as Beca stood. She felt their moment breaking. Beca moved through the room and sat at the chair in front of the vanity to fumble with the makeup and accessories laid out there.

 

Chloe looked to the far side of the room. Beca’s dress was uncovered and hanging, waiting until it was time to be worn. She had forgotten how intricate its beading was, how flattering it would be to Beca’s figure. She was sad she wouldn’t be there to see Beca wear it, but knew she simply couldn’t be.

 

She got up and crossed the room to stand behind Beca, resting her hands on Beca’s shoulders as they looked at one another in the mirror.

 

“So today’s the day,” Chloe said, softly.

 

Beca put her left hand over Chloe’s, squeezing it before dropping her hand back to her lap. Chloe lifted her hands to Beca’s ponytail, combing her fingers through her hair as she twisted it to wrap it around itself in a temporary bun.

 

“You’ll be a gorgeous bride.” She released Beca’s hair, letting it swing loosely again. “Call me when you’re back in LA?”

 

“I will. I promise.”

 

“You better not make me cross an ocean just to talk to you again.”

 

Beca tried to smile but tears started to sneak up on her.

 

“No, don’t you dare,” Chloe said, giving Beca’s shoulders a little shake. “No more crying today.”

 

Beca laughed and nodded, pushing a few teardrops away. “My eyes will be all puffy in my pictures.”

 

Chloe bent down, bringing her head level with Beca’s. “That’s what airbrushing is for.” She smiled at the mirror and Beca laughed again. Chloe turned, pressing a kiss to Beca’s temple. “But you’ll never need it.”

 

Beca closed her eyes, leaning into the affection. “Thank you.”

 

There was a light knock on the door and Beca looked at Chloe directly, without the mirror.

 

“That’s my cue,” Chloe said, running her fingers along Beca’s hairline, cupping her cheek one last time.

 

Beca nodded, turning her head to kiss Chloe’s palm, holding it to her lips until Emily knocked again.

 

Chloe touched Beca’s shoulder and walked away, opening the door for Emily. They exchanged glances, a hundred words passing silently as Emily moved past her.

 

“The guys are on their way up. You ready to get started?”

 

“Yeah.” Beca let her hair down again, combing her fingers through it as she looked right through Emily.

 

Chloe stood in the doorway, her hand on the doorknob as she started pulling it closed. She stopped when she saw Beca watching her. “Congratulations.”

 

Beca smiled. “Thanks.”


End file.
